Big rig loaded with cement blocks overturns on 210 Freeway

An overturned big rig truck lies on its side after a traffic collision on the westbound 210 Freeway just west of Irwindale Avenue in Irwindale, Calif. Friday morning March 21, 2014. (Staff photo by Leo Jarzomb/San Gabriel Valley Tribune)

An overturned big rig truck lies on its side after a traffic collision on the westbound 210 Freeway just west of Irwindale Avenue in Irwindale, Calif. Friday morning March 21, 2014. (Staff photo by Leo Jarzomb/San Gabriel Valley Tribune)

IRWINDALE >> A big rig hauling cement blocks overturned on the 210 Freeway in Irwindale on Friday, sending the driver to a trauma center and bringing area traffic to a screeching halt, authorities said.

The truck was hauling about 25,000 pounds of bricks on the westbound freeway about 11:40 a.m. when it struck the center divider and overturned just west of Irwindale Avenue, California Highway Patrol officials said.

“Bystanders on both sides of the freeway stopped to help,” Los Angeles County Fire Department Capt. Mark Delgado said. An off-duty firefighter helped get the injured truck driver, estimated to be in his late 40s or early 50s, out of vehicle.

Paramedics took the truck driver to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center for treatment, Delgado said. The man was conscious and breathing when hospitalized. An update on his condition was not available.

Two other cars became involved in the crash, Delgado said. The drivers of both appeared to have suffered only minor injuries and declined to be taken to a hospital.

None of the concrete blocks spilled from the big rig, CHP Officer Tony Polizzi said. But about 20 gallons of diesel fuel leaked from the wreckage, complicating the clean-up effort.

“It was just a massive traffic jam,” Delgado said.

Caltrans officials also had to make repairs to the center divider before a Sig Alert for the carpool and two left lanes of the westbound freeway was lifted five hours later, officials said.

The crash could have been worse, Delgado said. “Fortunately, it did not go over the divider into opposing traffic.”

Officers from the Baldwin Park office of the CHP were investigating the cause of the crash.